


Appoggiature

by Sparkling_Archangel



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drummer Hannibal, Drummer Will, Fluff, Hannigram - Freeform, M/M, Musician Hannibal, Rockstar AU, Romantic Fluff, Student Will, Will Graham/Anthony Dimmond (past relationship), musician Will
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:01:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25022842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparkling_Archangel/pseuds/Sparkling_Archangel
Summary: Will, a bored student passionate by drums, got one day the chance to see The Ravenstag, his favorite band, on stage. By pure luck, meaning, thanks to his friends Bev, Brian and Jimmy, he even got the chance to meet Hannibal Lecter, the mysterious drummer of the band.Usually not very caring about the fans of the band, Hannibal found himself being very interested by this young drummer.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 9
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing Hannigram, I hope it will be pleasant to read anyway! 
> 
> Appoggiature: french word for « grace note. It’s a musical note, out of the chord it’s played with, and it supports the main note to adorn it, to emphasize it
> 
> English is not my native language but I’m doing my best.  
> Not beta-read

Will sighed and cracked his neck. This mathematics course was important in his cursus, but he didn’t like it at all. The teacher was muttering alone about how bad almost all her students were, while writing way too quickly a long and complicated lesson on the blackboard.

Will tried to write the complex equations as fast as he could, went back a bit to erase a mistake, and realized he was already too late to follow the teacher’s rhythm. He sighed again, left a blank space and continued to write, with more erasures and mistakes than before.

Luckily, his friend Bev had already learnt all of that, as she was a year older than him, and she would probably be able to help him.

Around him, almost all the students were as lost as him, absently scribbling or frenetically trying to write everything. It was usual in this course, and Will spent the last ten minutes looking at his watch.

Another student, probably more courageous or unaware of the danger, tried to ask for explanations, but immediately got told that if he “had listened, he would have known.” That was usual as well: not giving any explanation while writing, and refusing to give any after.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the ringing of the bell announced the end of this awful course. As the other students, Will promptly threw his stuff in his bag without paying attention.

“One more minute!” The teacher yelled. “Sit down!”

Loud sighs and disappointed noises echoed in the classroom.

“Our director asked me to announce you that there would be a little concert in our school next Friday, at the end of the afternoon, by the band The Ravenstag. Apparently, some of its members were students here, and as a memory, the director invited them. It will be free for all students. Your presence at the concert is not mandatory, and I expect all of you to be here, in class, instead of in front this useless show. No need to say that I think it’s a very bad idea.”

No need to say it, indeed. Her disgusted expression was explicit enough.

“That’s during her class!” A student behind Will whispered with excitement. “We could miss it, and she will have nothing to say! And it’s a double period!”

“But the director insisted: you are free to go to the concert or somewhere else during this time, and nobody will be in trouble for not coming to my class. But I’ll know who is serious, and who is not.”

She looked in Will’s direction when saying that, and he quickly looked at his table to avoid making eye-contact, even from his seat at the fifth row.

Serious or not, his decision was already taken: music was his passion, and he loved The Ravenstag. Missing two hours with this harpy to go to a free concert by a band he loved? Of course he was in!

And it wouldn’t change anything to his results in this course, they were already very bad.

***

“Hey Graham! Are you sleeping or what?”

“Yeah, no. I mean. No. Sorry, Bev.” Will apologized.

“You’re even less interested by maths than usual. Which, considering how little you like that, means a lot.”

“We can’t all love that like you do.”

“I don’t! But I need to have good grades in this course to pass, as you do.”

“I won’t follow the same cursus as you next year, I won’t need it anymore.”

“You’re not sure of that and you still need to pass this year. And I’m taking some of my time to try to help you, you could at least pay attention.”

She smiled and closed the books they had spread on the desk to work.

“Let’s drop out of that for tonight, ok?” She suggested. “I’m sure you have other things to do, and you’re not focused enough to understand anything. No need to lose our time on this. We’ll meet tomorrow, and I’ll explain you everything.”

“Yeah, ok. I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome, silly. So, now, tell me. What’s on your mind?”

“I was thinking about this concert, next Friday. Did a teacher announce it in your class?”

“Yes, during biology class.” She answered, thinking. “I think I’ll go, I don’t have classes at this time of the day. Are you going to go too? If I remember your timetable, you’ve got maths at this time.”

“Yes, I do. But I’ll go anyway. The teacher will be angry but...”

“She always is.”

“True. And I love this band.”

“I know, I spent hours on the web to get you that teeshirt for your birthday!”

“And I’m still so grateful! You’re the best friend ever, I’m so sorry for not having paid attention to all the... things you said about maths earlier. Better like this?”

“Way better.” She laughed. “Don’t worry, I was just teasing you. I’m happy you’re finally getting to see them for real.”

“Me too. They are not a very big band, but they never play close enough for me to afford the trip.”

“They don’t do a lot of concerts, do they?”

“No, they don’t. They are just a little indie rock band, and all of them have day jobs. Reba is a film processor, for example.”

“She is the singer, if I remember well? Sorry, I’m trying to remember what you said about them, but I don’t know them much in the end.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, I know you don’t know them.” Will smiled. “And yes, Reba is the singer.”

“You could do that too, you know? They met as young adults, and even if you’re still a student, there are always bands looking for members. They even put announcements on the uni’s website, or on the bulletin board. You could join a band, it would be fun! You’re always playing alone. Even I, I never got to listen to you. I don’t even know if you’re good or not.”

“I’m not. I play because I like that, that’s all. I don’t want a public, even just you. But it’s not against you!” He quickly added.

“I know, it’s just how you are. And it’s fine. But think about it. You could also make new friends.”

Will didn’t answer, and Bev didn’t insist. She had been suggesting that just in case, but she knew Will wouldn’t be interested by one of the little bands looking for members in the area. Not that he was interested by a bigger band either. He just wanted to enjoy playing music alone.

***

When he came back into his room later that night, after having finished other boring schoolwork, Will dropped his bag on the bed and looked at the small poster pinned on the wall above his desk.

It was not an official poster, just a picture he had printed on his copy credit at the uni library. Will was, as many student, broke. He only had one teeshirt from the band, gifted by Bev for his previous birthday, and he had downloaded their music. And he never had hoped to see them for real, even if they were his favorite band.

But finally, he was going to be at one of their concert! The next Friday would be amazing.

Will should probably have continued to work, but all of this stuff was even more demotivating than usual. He was in this science cursus because he had been told it was the best for him, but he wasn’t interested at all, and he had no idea of what he would do the next year, and even worse, with his life.

But that was a problem for later. He picked his headset, checked that everything was plugged and switched on the electronic drum set. That was his most precious possession, even if it was a cheap one, just a beginner one, barely above the quality of a toy.

It was fixed with duct-tape in several places, due to its age and the intensive use. Will had bought it a few years ago with money carefully put aside for a long time, but between tuition, school books and the small rent asked by the uni for this room, he never had been able to fix it correctly, or, even better, to get a new one.

But it was allowing him to play here, in his room, without disturbing the others, and that was the most important.

He was always saying to Bev that he was bad at this, but that was wrong. Using the internal computer of the drums, he could play a lot of different musics, all without drums, to be able to play alone. Year after year, he had learnt and had became pretty good at this: he could play a very large range of tracks, even the ones from The Ravenstag.

He gave a last quick glance at the poster, and more precisely at Hannibal, the drummer of the band. With his sleek clothes and his perfect hair, he was looking very different from Will. From the videos Will had watched, he was always dressing elegantly. Even on stage, he was always wearing a nice shirt and a tie, which was a bit unusual for a drummer considering how energetic and sweaty it was. Will had read somewhere that he was a psychiatrist. It was probably paying well enough to be able to buy new shirts when they were ruined by a concert.

Even if they were not superstars, they were still famous, and had given several interviews for websites, magazines or newspapers, so Will knew a bit about each member of the band. From their jobs to Reba’s favorite chocolate, for example.

But he knew almost nothing about Hannibal, except his job and than he was in his thirties. The man was never giving interviews alone, but only with the other members of the band. And he was always dodging the questions asked to him directly with an over abundance of pompous words and metaphors. He was talking a lot, and never answering anything. Will loved that, but he would have liked to know a bit more about the man. First, because he was a drummer himself. And also because he was curious. And on top of that, the man was handsome.

The fans were generally preferring the other members of the band, but Mr Hannibal mysterious Lecter was Will’s fave.

Maybe he could get an autograph after the concert, even if Hannibal was not doing that very often. And even if Will wasn’t the kind of person who easily spoke to others.

Will smiled and started to play. Just a few more days, and he would see them for real.

***

“Are Zeller and Price going to come?” Bev asked.

“Yes, I convinced them, they are just a bit late.” Will answered. “They both like maths, but not enough to deal with our ass of a teacher.”

“Cool, we’ll keep them seats then.”

Will had insisted to arrive very early, and as Beverly didn’t have class on this Friday afternoon, she had agreed to wait with him. Considering the number of people waiting, mainly students but also a few other people probably invited one way or another, it has been a very good idea.

Students wanting to discover a band, or already fans, or who just wanted to miss some boring lessons... all the reasons were good to be there.

When the doors got opened, Will and Bev quickly found empty seats, not as close of the stage as Will had hoped, but still with a good view.

“Your friends are very late.”

“Yes, always.” Will half-apologized. “But Jimmy confirmed me they were on their way, and there is still twenty minutes before it starts.”

“I wonder if the band is already there, backstage.”

“Their instruments are already on stage, so yes. Even if bands often rent instruments when they move, everything is already installed, so they are already here.”

“So these are not their own instruments?”

“I think the guitar on the left is Jack’s, or if it’s not, it’s exactly the same as one of his. For the drums... I can’t see very well from here, so I’m not sure they are Hannibal’s. But the brand is the same and they cost probably more than ten times what I paid for my electronic one.”

“This is an accoustic drum kit?”

“Yes, and I read that the feeling is better than when you play with an electronic, but in my room...”

“Your neighbors would kill you.”

“We totally would.” Jimmy Price confirmed while sitting down. “Sorry, we are late.”

“We saw Mrs Awful on our way, she seemed so pissed about her class. I guess nobody will be there. I wonder if she would lower my grades if she knew I had called her like this.” Brian laughed. “Hi Will, hi Bev. Thanks for the seats.”

“You’re welcome.” Bev smiled. “Good thing Will asked to arrive early, I didn’t think there would be so many people! But it’s free and you can miss class. Of course there is a lot of people, I should have known that. I’ll have to leave just after the show, by the way. My boss called me, I’ll have to start earlier than usual tonight. But I’ll still get to see all the concert.”

“But you won’t stay for the selfies and signatures?” Jimmy asked, a bit of disappointment in his voice.

“No, but it’s ok, I don’t know them a lot. You three are the fans, especially Will. About that... I want you two to make sure he’ll go to get these selfies and signatures and fan stuff, ok? No running away in your room! You’ll stay and you’ll enjoy everything.”

“Hey, what? No, no, I won’t stay. I’m not into this kind of social stuff.”

“I know, but it’s your only chance to see them from close!”

“Yes, but no, I don’t think I’ll go.”

“Don’t worry Bev, we’ll make sure he is going.” Jimmy assured.

“We’ll force him if needed.” Brian added.

Will groaned and hid his face with his hand.

“Very good! And don’t make this face Will, you’re going to get a selfie with Hannibal, not to be stuck in a maths class for three hours.”

“Hannibal doesn’t do selfies or signatures.” Will explained. “He never interacts with the fans.”

“He talks a lot in interviews, but he is so mysterious.” Jimmy commented. “Understandable that he is the least popular member of the band. So of course, Will had to pick him as his fave. I like them all, but my fave is Jack. He seems to be a cool guy, and he is so good with a guitar.”

The lights of the room started to fade out, and a few seconds later, everybody was silent.

Will straightened on his seat, still not entirely believing he was there for real. For an horrifying second, Will thought that maybe all of that was a joke, that there wouldn’t be any concert or that his maths teacher was going to come behind them to make her nasty comments all the time.

But the first notes finally resonated in the room, and by these couple notes alone, Will’s fears vanished. He was here for real, and The Ravenstag was too.

Song after song, Will lived a dream. Even when Jimmy elbowed him with too much enthusiasm because it was his favorite song.

Sadly, everything must come to an end, and after two hours, Reba announced it was the last song. Sad “noooo!” ‘s erupted everywhere in the room, making her smile.

“But we have a little trouble with the keys...” She continued. “Nothing too bad, Frederick will fix that quickly. While waiting, we could play a little game. As the keys are down, and as Jack doesn’t want to let anyone near his precious guitar...”

“And me near my bass!” Alana precised for the side of stage where she was helping Frederick.

“And Alana near her bass, indeed,” Reba laughed, “we are going to do a rhythm game.”

Will was very surprised. A game with fans? That was so unusual. Maybe they had decided about this game previously, not especially for this day, just in case a technical issue would arrive.

“Who wants to take part?” Reba asked. “It’s nothing complicated, it’s just for fun, to fill a few minutes while they are fixing all of that. Jack will choose the participants, raise your hand! We have a few teeshirts for you.”

A lot of people raised their hand immediately. Will didn’t. A rhythm game was totally something he could do without troubles, but on a stage, in front of so many people... no. He was more comfortable in the shadows, playing for himself in his room.

Designated by Jack, a girl and then a boy Will didn’t know went on stage.

“One more person, Jack.” Reba asked. “Two is not enough to have fun and fill the blank.”

“Raise your hand!” Whispered Bev. “Come on Will! A rhythm game! That’s your chance.”

“No, thanks. I don’t want to be seen.”

“How silly.” Brian whispered before grabbing Will’s arm to raise it. “Hey Jack! Here! He is a drummer!” He yelled happily.

“Oh come on man, no.” Will whispered. Why did he have friends that loud?

“And the guy who doesn’t raise his own hand!” Jack announced. “Yes, you, with the glasses and the plaid shirt, come on stage with us!”

Will was planning to stay on his seat, hoping Jack would forget him, but Bev pushed him in the alley while Jimmy was giving him his bag.

A minute later, Will was climbing on stage, staring at the floor and his hands clutching the strap of his bag.

“And three participants, that’s great! Thank you.” Reba said with a large smile.

She then explained the game. The goal was simply to mimick the rhythm Jack would play by clapping hands.

“Very easy”, thought Will. The boy who got on stage just before Will started, while Will and the girl were taking a step back to let him have his moment.

“Maybe not very easy for everybody.” Will realized as the boy was randomly clapping. No doubt he was really trying to follow what Jack was showing with a shaker, but it was a total fail.

“So, you are a drummer.” A calm voice whispered just behind Will.

Will startled. He hadn’t heard that Hannibal had left his drums to come just there, so close Will could almost feel his breath on his nape.

“No, don’t turn your head. I am sure you already know how I look. Tell me. Did you friend yell that just to force Jack to choose you, or are you really a drummer?”

“I play but...”

“Very good. And what is your name?”

Why was he asking that? Will had no idea. Maybe he just curious.

Jack asked the crowd to clap for the boy who had just finished playing the game, and call the girl. She started to play, in a way better way.

“Will.” He answered. “But I’m not a good drummer, Brian yelled that to...”

“Shh. You are not the one to judge that.”

“Why did you not raise your hand yourself? You are not fond of being seen, I guess.”

“I’m not very fond of social stuff.”

“Interesting. Have you been playing for long?” Hannibal asked.

“A few years, but I’m not good at that and...”

“That is not what I asked. How many years?”

“Five years.” Will answered after counting.

“You cannot be that bad, then, and I am sure the world would earn a lot knowing your talent.”

Will didn’t answer, and after a few seconds of silence, realized that Hannibal was gone, back near his drums.

The girl finished Jack’s game, and the crowd clapped for her as well.

“Your turn now, shy one.” Jack smiled. “It’s no big deal you know, it’s just for fun.”

“No, sorry, he will not play your little game, Jack. He will play mine.” Hannibal said with a strong and charming voice. “Come here, Will.”

Hannibal pointed his fingers to his empty seat, just behind the drums kit.

Will gulped his saliva. Was he expecting Will to play in front of these people?

“You go Graham!” A voice yelled in the crowd, followed by laughters. Will was sure it was Bev. He walked toward the drums, put his bag on the floor and sat. Hannibal smiled, a curious little smile, like a grinning cat.

Not totally aware of what was going on, he heard Hannibal asking him if he knew any of their songs well enough to play it. Will answered positively, and gave him the name of a few of his favorite songs.

Hannibal asked the sound technician if they had a track of the song _Folie à deux_ without the drums. After a few seconds, the tech answered that they had one from a training CD used by the band only.

“Perfect. Would you play Folie à deux for Mister Graham, please?” Hannibal asked with Jack’s mic.

“Sure. Give me just a couple minutes.”

Will was feeling like if he was going to faint. This was too much. He forced himself to calm down.

It was an unique occasion, something he would never get to do again. This drums kit was a wonder, the kind of expensive instrument Will could only dream about. Playing on this... it was a chance he wouldn’t miss, even if he failed and made a fool of himself in front of all the students. At least, there wasn’t any microphone close enough to the drums, so nobody would be able to hear his shaky breath.

At the second he has been close enough to the stage, he had been able to see for sure that it was Hannibal’s own drum kit, and not a rented one. He had seen enough pictures and videos, and studied all its details for long enough to be sure of that. Shipping it accross the country for concerts was probably very expensive, but it was apparently not a problem at all.

The chance to play on this amazing acoustic drums kit, Hannibal’s drums kit, near his favorite band... yes, it was too awesome to ruin it by refusing to play.

And it was the same set up as his own. Thanks to videos, he had chosen the places of his snare drums, tom toms and cymbals especially to match Hannibal’s. So he wouldn’t have problems to to play on it.

Will removed his jacket to be more free in his moves and, unsure, dropped it on the floor near his bag. He immediately heard a little noise of disapprobation from Hannibal, who picked his jacket and carefully stored it on a box near the backstage entrance. Will tried to smile, and hid his nervous expression by fumbling into his bag to find sticks.

As any drummer, Will had broken a lot of sticks in his music journey. And even more than other drummers, because he was always getting the cheapest ones he could find and was always ending with bad sticks that broke too easily. But he couldn’t afford to buy good ones and to break them, and to buy others again, so he had to do his best with these ones.

“Are these sticks the ones you prefer using, or the ones you have to use?” Hannibal asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Will blushed. Of course Hannibal would have noticed how bad they were. “The ones I have to use. I... I can’t afford better ones, but I know that they are bad. But it’s just that I can’t...I’m sorry, I...”

“There is nothing to be sorry about. Being a broke student is not your fault. There, take a pair of mines.” Hannibal answered, handing Will sticks from a box. “I will not let you touch my drums with these things.”

Will mumbled thanks and apologizes again, until the technician announced that the soundtrack was ready. Jack encouraged the crowd to applause him to “give him strength”, like if it could help and not just makes things worse. Lights above the audience went dark.

Will breathed deeply. He knew Folie à deux very well, the song Hannibal had picked. It was certainly the most complicated one in the short list he had given, but he knew it perfectly. He even had played it the day just before. Of course, alone in his room with his bad but usual stuff was very different from that.

The first second of the music resonated.

Will smiled.

Everything was going to be ok. He felt alone there, deliciously alone, just him and the music, him and the rhythm. He forgot everything. The crowd, the nasty maths teacher, his boring cursus and his lack of future.

Will started to play.

When the song ended, Will suddenly came back into the world, like if he was waking up from a particularly vivid dream. He had done it. He had played the song without mistakes. He had played in front of an audience. He hadn’t at all made a fool of himself.

Somewhere very far, he could hear Jack and Reba who were praising him and the audience applauding.

But Will wasn’t looking at them, or at the audience, or at Alana and Frederick who had finished to fix the keys and were applauding too.

No, Will was only looking at Hannibal, suddenly worried that the snobbish and mysterious drummer would think that he had failed.

But Hannibal was smiling lightly, and he very slightly bowed his head while clapping his hands three times. Will smiled largely. That had more worth than anything.

As the keys were fixed, Will stood up and let Hannibal’s sticks on the seat. Jack called him and the two other participants to the game to gather for a selfie with the band, and, as usual, Hannibal didn’t take part. Then, Jack gave him and the two others a plastic bag probably containing a teeshirt, and Will went back into the anonymity of the crowd. The next song was starting when he found his seat between Bev and Brian.

“You did great, man!” Brian approved.

“I’m so proud of you” Bev added.

“Now, we will ask you every day to play for us.” Jimmy snorted. “You played very well.”

Will mumbled some thank you, and focused his attention of the stage for the last song.

***

After the encore, Bev sadly got to leave.

“I’m already a bit late.” She apologized. “See you all tomorrow!”

“It’s sad she couldn’t stay.” Brian said after she left. “Work first of course, but it’s a bit sad. But as we can stay... let’s go.”

Will was half tempted to refuse one more time to come with them to get an autograph and a selfie, especially as Jack had already taken some. But... Jack had taken a selfie of the whole band, minus Hannibal, and the three participants, all in once, hadn’t he? Now... Will could have selfies with each members of the band, and without the two other students.

So he followed Brian and Jimmy into the queue.

“I’ll ask them to sign my notebook.” Jimmy said. “I like it already, and it will be even better. And you two, what are you going to get signed?”

“I took a cd with me.” Brian answered, pulling said-cd out of his pocket.

Will fumbled into the bag Jack had given him. Aside the teeshirt, there was also a poster and a few little items he didn’t have time to carefully look at for now. The poster would be perfect for signatures, especially as he could see that for once, Hannibal was signing this day, even if it seemed he wasn’t really talking to anybody. Next to him, Frederick was loudly talking enough for two, as often.

Reba was the first to sign in the line, and next to her, Alana was helping her to place her hand at the right place on the item to sign. Then, Alana, Jack and Frederick were signing and taking selfies with whoever wanted. And, last one of the line, Hannibal was signing with only his initials and was not taking any pictures.

“Come on, Lecter! You could take pictures with them, it wouldn’t ruin your perfect shirts.” Chilton teased. 

“I do not appreciate that.”

“You’re boring!”

“You’re loud.”

“Hannibal is right!” Reba laughed. “You’re loud, but we love you for that.”

Hannibal was not at all looking like if he was loving Frederick Chilton, but he didn’t answer anything.

When Will’s turn arrived, just after Brian and Jimmy because he had let them go before him, Reba, Alana, Jack and Frederick all congratulated him for the song he had so well played. They all signed his poster before taking a selfie with him, like for all the other students.

He then arrived in front of Hannibal, and was expecting nothing more than the others, just a beautiful H.L. on the corner of the paper.

“You did good earlier.”

“Thank you. I was a bit nervous.”

“That, I could have guessed. But it is normal. Do you play in a band with other students? Or maybe with people from outside the school?”

“No, sorry. I play alone in my room, on an electronic kit. I have training tracks, like the one you asked the technician to play.”

“You are not very fond of people.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I’m generally a solitary.”

“That’s a shame. Any band would be happy with a good drummer like you.”

“The place in my favorite band is already taken, as you’re here.” Will got immediately ashamed of this lame attempt of a joke, but, at his surprise, Hannibal smiled and looked at him.

“You are interesting. And a good drummer, at least on this song.”

“I’m not great but I’m trying.” Will tried to answer.

“I am not the kind of people who give compliments for nothing. If I say you are good, it means you are. I know what I say. Continue to play, even if it is alone in your room.”

He signed his full name on the poster and stood up as Will was starting to thank him and leave. “Stay for a second.”

Hannibal put his arm around Will’s shoulders and took a selfie of them before Will got the time to realize what was going on.

“Have a nice day, Will.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the concert, Will is still thinking to his encounter with Hannibal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments on the first chapter!
> 
> Not beta read, and english is not my native language

The next day, Will was supposed to do some homework in the morning, before heading to his job at the uni library in the afternoon. But he spent most of the morning finding the best place for his signed poster, and then trying on the slightly too big teeshirt, and looking at the badges that were still inside the bag.

And, even more important, replaying each second of this wonderful moment in his head.

His only regret was that Hannibal had taken the selfie with his own phone, and that himself didn’t have a copy. And as Hannibal wasn’t on social medias, he couldn’t hope to see it posted online.

The band was still in town for the day, Will had read it on Alana’s Twitter. So Will was hoping a bit to meet Hannibal randomly and to ask him for the picture, even if it was maybe a bit childish.

He hesitated for a minute... after all, he didn’t have that much homework to do, except in maths but he didn’t really care about that. And Hannibal himself had told him to continue to play.

Will finished something for another class in half an hour and sat in front of his drums kit. He had played a bit in the last evening, after the concert, and after having played of Hannibal’s wonderful drums, it was a bit disappointing to play on his own. But it was better than nothing, and Will quickly forgot that to just enjoy the music.

Until the moment his right stick broke. Again. Will swore and sighed. Not surprising, but never pleasing. And he didn’t have enough time to buy other ones before work. He could maybe go after, if he was fast enough.

Still swearing, he switched off the drums, dropped his headset and headed to the library.

The afternoon went well, even if it was very busy, and Will rushed back to his room as soon as he could.

“Hey Will!” Brian called him. “We are going to play some video games in Jimmy’s room, you’re coming?”

“Not now, maybe later, sorry. I want to go to the music shop before it closes.”

“Better hurry up then, it’s not close. Wanna borrow my skateboard? You would be faster.”

“Oh yes, thanks! I’ll bring it back as soon as I’ll be back, promise.”

“You better.” Brian joked. “Join us to play when you’ll be back.”

Will nodded and took the skateboard his friend was handing him. He was not very good at this, but it would still be better than walking. He ran out of the building, his satchel on his shoulder and Brian’s skateboard under the arm, and glanced at his watch. It was really late, and he was going to have to be really fast if he wanted his sticks today.

The band was still in town and when Hannibal saw Will leaving the uni running like crazy, he got curious. He had highly appreciated this young man the day before, despite the fact he had thrown his jacket on the floor, and despite his constant denial that he could be a good drummer. His unfortunate bad choice of drum sticks was not something Hannibal could reproach him. Even if he was now rich enough to fund the band, himself had been a broke kid and a broke student.

He quickly got into his car and decided to follow the young drummer rushing in the streets. He couldn’t say why exactly, but he wanted to know more about Will Graham.

Will was totally focused on getting to the shop in time and did not pay attention to the Bentley following him. It was just a car in the middle of others, and he wasn’t paying attention to any car, except the ones he had to avoid.

Less than ten minutes before the shop close. Will swore and tried to go faster. Brian probably could have. But not Will, and he fell like a potato bag on the sidewalk. Hannibal saw him falling, but there was no way he could park his car and help him. And to be honest, he didn’t want to. He wanted to see what Will was going to do, and to know why he was such in a hurry on this Saturday evening.

When Hannibal finally managed to park his car, Will was getting inside the music shop. His hands and arms were bruised, and his lower lip was splitted, but the shop wasn’t closed yet.

“We are closing soon... oh it’s you. Welcome, get in for a minute.” The seller said with a smile. Will was a regular customer, and the seller knew he wasn’t going to stay for long.

“Thank you! I was afraid to arrive too late.”

“Looks like it, yeah. Did you fall or something?”

“Yes, but nothing bad, just bruises and scratches. I was in a hurry.”

“Let me guess... you broke your sticks again?”

“Sadly, yes. I’d like the same ones as usual, the cheapest ones you have, please.”

“You should really buy better ones... these are ones are toys, just for kids beginning to learn. Not for someone who plays seriously every day.”

“I know, I know.” Will sighed. “But it’s always the same problem. I can spend a couple dollars on these ones every two weeks, but buying twenty-dollars ones is not possible.”

“I know, and I understand. But still, these are crap for your level. And I guess you still have the same drum kit?”

“Yes, of course. I fixed the cymbal thanks to your advice from the last time by the way, thank you.”

“With duct-tape? You know I was half-joking, right?”

“Yes, but it worked. More or less. It makes cracking noises now.”

The seller laughed. He would have loved to help this nice student, but Will was a customer like all the others. He grabbed a pair of bad sticks and handed them to Will.

“Two dollars, please, as usual.”

While Will was fumbling in his pockets, the bell of the door rang lightly.

“Hello, sir. I’m finishing with my customer and I’ll come to you.” The seller said. “But the shop is going to close in a few minutes.”

“It will not be an issue, I just wanted to have a look.” Hannibal answered. “I will leave in a minute.”

Still busy with his money, Will didn’t pay attention to the voice.

“Thanks.” The seller said, putting the money away. “I know you can’t afford that easily, but you really should upgrade a bit your stuff, you know. You won’t be able to progress anymore, and having better material would change a lot of things. You could pay in several times.”

“I’ll think about it. I got to play a song on an amazing drum set yesterday and it was so different.”

“Different better or different disappointing?”

“Different better. A million time. But I can’t buy that, even in several times.”

“You could have something better than what you have without having to buy a super expensive one either.”

“I know but... maybe in a few years, I hope.”

“I hope so too.” The seller smiled. “See you soon! Or, not too soon. Don’t break those too quickly.”

Will turned to leave after having waved good bye and got the surprise to recognize Hannibal.

“Good evening, Will. Nice to see you.”

The man was dressed in a perfect three-pieces suit, something he couldn’t wear on stage of course, and his hair was perfectly waxed, not even a single strand was free. That was also different from his stage look, where his hair was way more messy from the energy put in playing.

“Ah errr... good evening, Doctor Lecter.” Will mumbled. He wanted to punch himself for not being able to think to something better to say. “I’m happy to see you.”

“We should get out and let this man close his shop.”

Will nodded, unable to answer, and followed Hannibal in the street. The seller closed the door as soon as they got out, with a happy smile to Will.

“It is already late,” Hannibal said “and by the time you will arrive at the university, the canteen will be closed.” That was true and, as Will couldn’t afford to eat out, he was hoping Brian or Jimmy would let him some pizza or something. They were always ordering pizza on video games nights and were often keeping him some. And if there wasn’t anything left, he could pour hot water into an instant noodle cup, if he still had one in stock.

“Yes, it will be closed. I’ll find another solution.”

“I know a very nice Italian restaurant not far away from here. Would you join me for dinner?” Hannibal suggested.

Will bit his lip. Joining Hannibal for dinner sounded amazing. His favorite member from his favorite band! How could he say no? And he had a bit of a crush on the guy, even if he never admitted it. And Italian food was great. But restaurants were always expensive, and he couldn’t afford that. But he wanted to say yes. Maybe he could go back to the uni, borrow money from Jimmy, and Brian, and Bev, and even Antony, and come back to the restaurant with Hannibal after? He would of course refund them later and...

“I will pay, of course.” Hannibal added, as if he had felt Will’s distress.

“I’d love to, but I can’t accept, it’s too much, I mean...”

“Not that much, and I am sure I have more money than a student. Let’s go.”

Hannibal started to walk away without looking if Will was following him. He smiled when he heard quick footsteps behind him.

He led Will to the restaurant, just a minute away. It was below his usual standards, but Reba knew the place and liked it. She had immediately recommended it when he had asked her if she knew anything good in this city. And it was probably better to not bring Will into a too fancy place. He would probably melt on the floor from embarrassment, and with the bruises on his hands and the skateboard tucked under his arm, he would not feel at his place.

There was quite a lot of people inside the restaurant, but a waiter managed to find a table for them in a quiet area. He apologized several times that the table was stuck between too much fake plants, but Hannibal assured him it was fine. More than fine, actually. It was way better to be sitting in a lightly too tight place but to be free to talk without having other people too close.

“You have blood on your hands, you should wash them.” Hannibal said as he sat down. “You can leave your bag here, I will not leave the table in your absence.”

Will nodded, still not able to figure out something to say, and rushed to the bathroom. He washed away the bits of dry blood on his hands, and used the mirror to remove a little spot of blood on his chin, from his splitted lip. He was still far way from Hannibal’s refinement, but it was way better now.

He suddenly remembered he had told Brian that he would join them to play video games later in the evening, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket to warn him.

“Sorry, I won’t be there to play tonight. Next time!”

“Is there a problem?” Brian texted back.

“No, not at all. I’ll tell you everything later. And no need to keep me food, I’m going to eat outside.”

“Bev is asking if you’re on a date.”

“No, just dinner.” Will typed

“With who? Friend or... ? ”

“I’ll tell you everything later.”

“You’re teasing! Give us a clue.”

“Later. See y’a.”

He then took a second to breath and calm down, and came back to the table. Hannibal was reading the menu like if he had never read something this interesting, but his full attention focused on Will as soon as he came back.

“There are no prices on my menu.” Will said hesitantly.

“I know, I asked for it while you were washing your hands. You are my guest, I will pay, and you do not have to know the prices.”

“But...”

“Choose something, please.”

Will blushed and mumbled a thank you. When the waiter came back, Hannibal noticed that, even without knowing the prices, Will was picking one of the cheapest options.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two. Why?” Will asked, a bit surprised.

“To know if I was going to order wine for both of us, or just for myself.”

The waiter came back, and Hannibal asked him questions about the wines menu. Will listened without understanding what was going on, but after a while, Hannibal seemed satisfied and asked for a precise bottle.

“Alas, They do not have a lot of interesting choices. But this one should be good with the food we have picked.”

“I have to confess that I know very little about wine. Or even nothing, to be honest.”

“That is not a problem. Tell me a bit about you, would you? What do you do, when you don’t break bad drum sticks? What are you studying?”

“There is not much to say about me.” Will mumbled. “I’m following a science cursus, I still have one year after this one. I don’t know what I’ll do after.”

“No specific job you would like to do, or other studies you would like to accomplish?”

“Not really. I already don’t know what to do next year. And later... all I know about the life I would like to have is that I want to have dogs, I love them. I chose this cursus because I had good grades in physics and maths, and it was apparently the best for me.”

“But you do not like it.”

“No, not at all.”

“Have you ever considered becoming a professional musician?” Hannibal asked.

“Well... it would be so complicated.” Will answered after an hesitation. “I never played with a band, and it’s almost impossible to live from art...”

“But you would love to?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I have always been told that art wasn’t a real job.”

“Who said that, if I may ask?”

“My dad, long ago, before he died, and some of my teachers.”

“I see. But you should still consider it, I think. And you must continue to play. You are already good, and it would be a shame to stop now. What do you like in life, except music of course? Skateboard maybe?”

“No, and this one is not even mine. A friend let me borrow it, to get to the music shop faster.”

“Not a big success, considering your hands and lip.”

“I got there in time, that’s the most important.” Will answered, shrugging his shoulders.

“You should take better care of yourself.”

Will didn’t understand why Hannibal could care about him, but luckily, the waiter came back at this moment with their order and he didn’t have to answer.

The food was delicious, and the wine was a perfect match. Soon, the conversation went on the pleasant topic of music, and Will finally started to feel comfortable.

“Is it your phone we can hear buzzing all the time?” Hannibal asked after a while.

“Errr... yes, I’m sorry. I forgot to mute it, and I didn’t want to look at it and...”

“It is fine. Have a look now, maybe it is important. And mute it after.”

Will had a look at the screen. He had a couple of messages from Bev and Jimmy wishing him a good evening, and a dozen from Antony. Will frowned and quickly read them.

“Any trouble?” Hannibal asked.

“No it’s just... someone who wants to know where I am.”

“I thought you had warned your friends that you would not be back at your room immediately.”

“I did, but he is err... he is my ex. We stayed friends, but he always asks if I’m dating someone, and things like this. So when he knew I was not eating at the uni tonight, he became curious.”

“I see.” Hannibal answered with a little grin.

Unexpectedly satisfied with this information, Hannibal brought the conversation back on music, and Will sighed with relief.

As any good thing, the dinner finished too soon, and Hannibal and Will left the restaurant.

“Thanks for the dinner, it was amazing. And for the chat about music and everything. That was a great evening.” Will said, smiling.

“You are welcome, I enjoyed it as well. My car is parked not far away, I am going to drive you back to the university.”

“Oh, that’s very nice of you, but you don’t have to. I still have Brian’s skateboard and...”

“And it’s night, and it’s late, and you already fell earlier. I am driving you back.”

Hannibal led Will to his car in the nearest street.

“That’s... your car?”

“Indeed.”

“That’s... wow. I had never seen a car like this from so close before.”

“So I guess you have never been into one.”

Hannibal opened the passenger door for Will to get in. He then got in himself and put on classical music.

“That’s very far from what your band plays.”

“It is, yes. I have always loved classical music. I also like The Ravenstag’s music, of course, but it is not at all the same.”

The ride was very pleasant, but sadly too short to Will’s taste. He would have wanted this evening to never stop. He wanted to continue to talk with Hannibal, to share with him his views on music and anxieties about his future, to talk about drums and bad sticks.

But this was over. At least, he would have the nice memories to day-dream about.

Hannibal parked his car and, while Will was fumbling with the strap of his bag, got out of the car to open the door for him again.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know. I wanted to.”

Will smiled, standing awkwardly in front of Hannibal. What was he supposed to do? Say goodbye and shake his hand maybe? Thank him again?

“Good bye, Will.” Hannibal said. “I hope we will meet again soon.”

“I hope so too.”

Hannibal took a step in his direction and Will thought for a second that he was going to kiss him. But no, Hannibal only squeezed his arm lightly, watching Will in the eyes for a second. He then went back in his car and left, leaving Will alone outside.

Will sighed, and realized he had forgotten his jacket in the car, and that he also had forgotten to ask Hannibal for the selfie taken after the concert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know enough about music but...Drummers really break their sticks quite often, depending of how they play. And good sticks can for real cost 20 dollars a pair. 
> 
> The illustration will soon on my social medias (probably next week)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will comes back to the dormitory after this amazing evening and needs to debrief all of that with Bev

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta-read, and english is still not my native language

Will slowly made his way to the dormitory. It was late, he was tired, and he didn’t want to deal with Jimmy and Brian’s constant chatting for now. But he still wanted to talk about his evening with a friend, and went to Bev’s room.

“Aaaah you’re back!” She happily welcomed him. “I was starting to worry. Come on, get in. It’s late, it would be a bad idea to talk in the corridor.”

Will followed her inside and sat on the little sofa with the elegance of a heavy potato bag.

“You should send a text to Brian or Jimmy to say you’re back. And to Antony, so he will finally stop asking questions.”

“Good idea, I’m going to do that. I still have Brian’s skateboard, I’ll give it back tomorrow. Was Antony annoying?” Will asked while typing a message for Jimmy. He would for sure inform Brian immediately, as Brian would inform him if he had been the first one informed.

“A pain in the ass. I like him, but you know that he can be a bit... insisting.”

“Yeah. He sent me several messages in the evening to ask where I was, what I was doing, and with who. But I didn’t answer.”

“To be honest, I’d like to know too. No obligation of course, but if you came here so late, I guess you want to tell me.”

Will nodded and started to tell her everything about his evening, from the moment he borrowed Brian’s skateboard.

“Wow that’s SO COOL! And the guy seems nice.”

“He is. He didn’t really talk about himself but... I really enjoyed this evening.” He sighed.

“And now you’re sad because you don’t know if you’ll ever see him again.”

“Yes. For me, it was important. For him... Just a dinner with another random musician.”

“Are you sure about that? Do you know if he does that often, going out with a fan?” She asked.

“I have no idea, he is very secret about his life. And also, I forgot to ask him for the selfie. And I forgot my jacket in his car.”

“You’re a walking catastrophe, you know that?”

“Thank you.”

“Was just teasing you.”

“I know.” He chuckled. “And you’re not wrong.”

“I think he likes you, or at least thinks you’re interesting. Did he tell you why he was in the music store at the same time as you?”

“No, I guess it was just a coincidence. He said he wanted to look at a price and left at the same time as me.”

“Why a rich doctor and musician would go in this precise music store two minutes before it closes, saying he wanted to look at prices but not looking at all? Come on Will, he wanted to see you.”

“You think?”

“I’m sure. Did you ask for his number?”

“Of course not! It was not a date.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Will didn’t answer. It was not date. He would have loved for it to be a date, but it was not. Just a nice evening with another drummer.

“I just wish to see him again.” He whispered. “I felt good during this evening. I felt safe. I don’t know why. I was feeling safe and interesting.”

“Special?”

“Yes.”

“If he made you feel special. And even if it was not a date, it very probably means he enjoyed this evening as much as you. I’m a hundred percents sure of that. The other members of the band are on social medias, aren’t they?”

“Yes, on Twitter mainly. And the band itself has an account too.”

“You could try to contact one of them, or just the band’s account, to then try to contact him, don’t you think?” Bev suggested.

“I don’t know if I would dare to. Maybe it’s just my imagination, maybe there was nothing.”

“You always had too much imagination and empathy in you, but it’s not a bad thing. At all. I think you should give it a try. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow if you want? I’m sorry, but it’s very late.”

“Yes, tomorrow would be great. Thank you. And err... not a word to Jimmy or Brian...”

“Or Antony. No, of course. What did you tell them?”

“That I ate with Hannibal and that we talked about drums. Just a polite musicians dinner. I didn’t tell them... everything else.”

“And I won’t tell them either. See you tomorrow, Will.”

“See you. You’re the best, you know?”

“Of course I am.” She laughed.

Will went back to his room, feeling a bit better than earlier. He stayed awake late in the night, playing and replaying the evening in his mind with a smile.

***

“Hey, are you Will Graham?”

After a Sunday spent trying to catch up on his homework and a boring Monday, Will was back to the building he was living in when the caretaker of said building stopped him.

“Yes, that’s me. Why?”

“Ah, great. I thought I was going to have to keep that longer. Someone sent you a package. Wait a second, please, I need you to sign to confirm I gave it to you.”

Will frowned. Who could have sent him something? He hadn’t ordered anything online, and he didn’t have family or relatives who could have sent him that package. And he didn’t have friends outside of the university.

He signed the paper and thanked the caretaker before taking the box, and decided it was safer to open it in his room, as he had no idea of its content.

There wasn’t stamps or any post office sticker on the box, so it hadn’t been sent but directly dropped at the uni. And of course, there wasn’t any sender name, because it would have been too easy.

Will carefully opened the box.

Inside was his jacket, the one he had forgotten in Hannibal’s car. And three pairs of drum sticks, the same brand as the ones Hannibal was using on stage. Will also found a short letter.

“I would appreciate it if you never played again with the bad sticks you showed me. Please, use these ones now. HL.”

***

“Is he handsome?”

Will choked on his bottle of water when Antony asked him that during lunch.

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t pay attention to anything and you’re smiling mindlessly. You have someone in mind. Tell me! We are still friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course we are, even if you’re so fussy sometimes.”

Antony put his right hand over his heart like if Will had shot him.

“He is handsome, yes. And amazing. But on Saturday... it wasn’t a date. I went to a restaurant with Hannibal, and we chatted, just about music.”

“You’ve got a crush. Don’t deny it, I know you! You’re totally crushing on him.”

“I don’t even have his number.”

“Contact the band.” Beverly suggested. She was sitting nearby and hadn’t missed a word.

“She is right.” Antony approved. “Don’t let him go. I hope you’ll see him again.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You’re smiling, you’re happy about this evening, and the concert the day before, and you have these great sticks you showed me. I know, we broke up months ago and everything, it wasn’t working between us. But you’re still my friend, and I want you to be happy, that’s all. Contact the band. Do everything you can to find him, and date him if you want.”

“I guess I want to...”

“But?” Antony asked.

“I don’t know if I should.”

“Why?”

“He is famous as a musician and as a psychiatrist. He is rich. He is elegant. He has a fancy car and very expensive clothes and everything. And I’m just...me.”

“It didn’t seem to bother him. And just you is already amazing, I promise.” Antony smiled. “I’ll help you trying to get his number, if you help me with my english essay.”

***

It turned out that Will didn’t need to reach the band to reach Hannibal.

Two days after, in the evening, another package arrived for him. Recognizing Hannibal’s handwriting this time, Will rushed into in room to open it as soon as the caretaker gave it to him.

Inside the box was a brand new headset, with a soft padding and an active noise reduction function.

“Considering your previous sticks and the picture you showed of your drum kit, I assume that your headset must be pretty bad. Do not ruin your audition and do not anger your neighbors by playing too loud, use this now, please. HL.”

Will opened the box of the headset with shaking hands. He knew both the brand and the model. These were very expensive, probably three hundred dollars or something around. Maybe Bev was right. Maybe Hannibal was appreciating him.

But it was too much... so much money spent for him, like this... But as there was no sender address, there was no way he could send it back to Hannibal with his apologies, to say he couldn’t accept. This amazing headset was now his, no matter if he wanted it or not.

He sat on the bed before getting it out of the box to admire it, and a little white card fell out. There was only three words on it. “If you want.” Followed by a phone number.

***

An hour later, Will was still sitting on his bed. He had taken his phone in his hand with the intention to text Hannibal, but he hadn’t yet. He didn’t know what he could say. Just sending a “thank you” was a bit short and didn’t sound really grateful.

And Will was genuinely grateful for these gifts.

Will stood up and went to sit in front of his drum kit. He put the headset on, took a pair of sticks in his hand and snatched several selfies. After a while, he managed to take one when he didn’t look to bad: he was smiling lightly, the headset and the sticks were visible, and the drums were too.

“Thank you for the sticks and the headset, they are amazing gifts. I truly appreciate them, but I think you shouldn’t spend so much money for me, it’s a bit of a waste. Will.” He wrote. He added the picture, wrote and saved Hannibal’s number and sent.

At the second he pressed the sending button, he regretted his message. Hannibal was a renowned psychiatrist and musician, he was almost ten years older than him, and he was probably busy. This ridiculous selfie, the text... that was so lame. Will had started to type an apology message when Hannibal answered. Maybe he was not that busy, after all. Or maybe he was waiting for a message from Will. That was a pleasant thought, even if a little dreamy.

“If you appreciate my gifts, then it is not wasted money. Thank you for the picture.”

“I appreciate them! I even love them. But... I can’t help it but feel a bit uncomfortable at the idea of someone spending that much money on me. I can’t repay you, and I don’t even know how to thank you properly.” Will texted back.

“It might be a lot for you as a student, but it is not that much for me. There is no need to repay me, and you already thanked me. It is enough for me. Tell me about your day.”

“Are you sure? It’s quite boring.”

“I am sure.”

Will quickly summarized his classes of the day, including another maths one that had, as usual, went bad.

“This teacher seems rude.” Hannibal answered.

“She is. She is always rude, never explains anything and refuses to answer questions.”

“Very rude. You certainly have some schoolwork to do?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Then I won’t take your time any longer, you should start working on that before it is too late.”

“I’m going to. I’ll play after.”

“Very good. Good luck with your work, and good evening, Will.”

Will hesitated for a second. He had called him Doctor Lecter when they were at the restaurant, but it was feeling a bit weird to write it.

“Thank you, good evening to you too.” He sent.

***

It became a kind of a ritual between them. Every evening, Hannibal would ask him about his day, and Will would answer a few things about his classes, or about a new song he was learning to play. Sometimes, it was Will who was sending the first message, usually just saying hello, in case he would disturb Hannibal.

One evening, Will texted Hannibal way earlier than usual, and it took the psychiatrist almost an hour to answer. Will was already starting to think that he had angered him in a way or another and that he would never have news again.

“My apologies, I was cooking, and did not have my phone with me. I hope you did not get worried.”

“A bit, but it’s ok now. What were you cooking?”

“A foie gras au torchon with a late harvest of vidal sauce, with dried and fresh figs.”

“Wow, that sounds fancy and tasty. Was it good?”

“Very. What did you eat?”

“I haven’t eaten yet, I was working at the library tonight.”

“Then, what are you going to eat?”

Will glanced at his food. That was going to seem ridiculous compared to Hannibal’s dinner. He took a picture and sent it.

“Are you really going to eat that?”

“Yes, why? It’s instant noodles and a Mars bar. I know it’s nothing fancy, but it’s not that bad.”

“That must be particularly untasteful, on top of being bad for your health and not being very nutritious.”

“Making proper noodles would be more expensive. These ones are really cheap.”

“Considering their weird color, I hope they are at least cheap, yes.”

Will looked at his noodles again. It was true that with all the artificial colorings in that, their shiny orange color was not very appetizing.

“I thought this university had a canteen.” Hannibal added.

“Yes, there is one.”

“But it’s more expensive.”

“Yes. I don’t go often. But it’s fine! I’m used to that.”

To Hannibal’s eyes, it was far away from fine.

So far away from fine that the next day, Will received an email from the uni to say that his student card, the one used to pay at the canteen, had now a credit of a hundred dollars. No details in this email, no name, nothing.

Yet, Will of course knew perfectly who had credited his account.

“Thank you for the credit. But you shouldn’t have.” He texted.

“You are welcome. Please, no more of these fluorescent noodles. And please, tell me when you will need more. There is no shame in accepting financial help from someone who is more weathly than you.”

Will was disagreeing with this last part, but there was apparently no way to get Hannibal to understand. He had talked about this with Bev, and she was totally understanding his discomfort with this.

“But... after all... his help is really a good thing for you, isn’t it?” She had said “Let him help you. He wants to, he is nice with you and doesn’t seem to ask for anything in return so... why not.”

“Why not, yes. Maybe. Maybe he is just glad to help a broke student. He told me that as a student himself, he was poor too.”

“See? He just wants to help so you don’t struggle as much as he did. And also... you like him, right?”

“I do, yeah.” Will blushed. “I mean, who wouldn’t? He is a bit famous, he is handsome, he is nice, he is rich...”

“That’s a lot, yes. My advice would be to... enjoy your time with him, that’s all. But keep in mind that, considering who he is, he could easily have influence on you. Manipulate you, even. I’m not saying he would!”

“But I shouldn’t forget that. Yes, indeed. It’s safer.”

***

A Thursday, another package from Hannibal arrived.

“You must have a very caring family.” The caretaker said, smiling, as he handed it to Will. “Have a nice evening.”

“Thank you.” Will mumbled. On his way to his room, he met Jimmy who caught his arm all excitedly.

“Come with me! Brian got this new video game we wanted to try since a while. You can open your package there.”

“I don’t really care about this game, but... well, ok. I got a long day. Could be relaxing.”

Will followed Jimmy into Brian’s room, where Bev and Antony already were. He sat in a corner, a bit away from the others, to open his package without them watching.

Inside the package was a shirt, made from silk from what Will could guess, and also a card. “Saturday, 6:30pm?”

“Is that an invitation?” Will sent.

“It is. Will you be available for dinner?”

“I will be, yes.”

“Very good. I will pick you in front of the doors, as the same place I left you after our dinner last time. I would like you to wear the shirt I sent you, but you don’t have to if you do not feel like it. I had to guess your size, I hope it will fit.”

“I will wear it. I never had clothes this beatiful. Is there a special reason? Does the place we are going to require to wear fancy stuff?”

“In a certain way, yes. I appreciate elegance, no matter where I am or what I am doing.” Hannibal answered, making Will chuckle.

“Is your boyfriend funny?” Antony asked.

“The way he talks and writes is sometimes funny, yes, but he is not my boyfriend.” Will answered.

“Yet.” Antony grinned.

“Oh come on, I...”

“Don’t be an ass Antony, or you won’t get to play.” Brian threatened.

“What was in the package, if you don’t mind me asking?” Beverly said to cut Antony before he could answer.

“A shirt.” Will mumbled. “I’m going to leave now. The game seems cool but...”

“You don’t wanna try it?” Brian asked.

“Later. I’ve got work to do.”

“Sad. Good luck.”

Will thanked him and left the room, followed a minute later by Bev.

“I figured you would like to talk.”

“Thanks. Yes. My room is just there.”

They sat in silence, and after a minute, she asked: “What the problem, Will? The shirt he sent you? The messages he sent you tonight? Something else?”

“There was also a card in the box. I asked him for details.”

“And?”

“He invites me for dinner on Saturday.”

“What did you answer?”

“I said yes.”

“Because you wanted to, or because you felt like you had to?”

“I wanted to. He asked if I was available, he didn’t... force anything. And he said the shirt was because he liked elegance in any circumstance.”

Will’s phone buzzed.

“Did I upset you in any way?” Hannibal was asking. “Is there anything wrong?”

“He is worried because I’m not answering anymore.” Will told Bev.

“Well, answer him.”

“But what should I say?”

“He genuinely cares about you, it seems. Answer him honestly. Ask him what you want to ask him since the you opened the package.” She said.

“Meaning?”

“Ask him if it is a date.”

“I don’t even dare calling him by his first name, I can’t do that!”

“Why not? At the worse, he will say no. It would be a bit awkward, but you would still have him as a friend to talk about music.”

Will nodded. Bev was right. What could happen?

“No, no I’m not upset.” Will typed. “But may I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Hannibal answered immediately.

“Is this a date?”

A minute passed. “See?” Will said desperately to Bev. “He doesn’t answer anymore! Maybe he hates me and...”

“Calm down, Graham! Let him some time to type his answer!”

As usual, Bev was right, and Hannibal’s answer arrived soon after.

“I should have known you would ask that, and I am sorry if that worried you. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. You asked if this dinner was a date. It is whatever you want it to be. If you want it to be simply a dinner with a friend, to talk about music and your studies, it is fine for me. If you want it to be a date, then it is a date. If I’m being honest with you, I would like it very much if it was a date. But it is totally your choice.”

Will showed the message to Bev.

“I understand it took him a lot of time to type that.” She commented. “Go on, answer him.”

“I’d like it to be a date.” Will typed.

Bev patted him on the shoulder. “Very good. I’m going to leave you now. I don’t know if you really have school work, but I do.”

“I have some yes, for the maths class.”

“Ew.” She laughed. “Poor you.”

“Exactly what I thought yes.”

“Good luck then. And good evening with Mr. Very-long-texts.”

“Good evening to you too, and thank you. For your help and the talk.”

“Anytime. See you tomorrow.”

She waved her hand and left. Will glanced at his maths work and decided he would do it tomorrow. Maybe. It was useless anyway. He sat at his drum kit and put on his headset.

“I’m glad.” Hannibal answered. “Then I’ll come to pick you up at 6:30 on Saturday evening for our date.”

Will smiled, even if Hannibal couldn’t see him.

“I can’t wait :)”

“I’d rather have a picture of you than a smiley.”

Will laughed. It was very Hannibal to say that, and he was not surprised at all.

“I’m not dressed very elegantly.”

“I could have guessed that.”

“I’ll send you a picture if you send me one. And the selfie you took of us at the concert.”

“Two pictures against one? Isn’t that unfair?” Hannibal asked.

“You’re the one who asked.”

Will wondered for a second if he had went too far by answering that, but Hannibal sent the concert selfie, and then a second picture a minute later. Will wondered if it was Hannibal’s office, or maybe his house. He could see dark wood, and the corner of what probably was a leather covered chair. Hannibal was wearing a three-pieces suit, but not the same one as he had when they went to the restaurant.

The angle was a bit weird, like if Hannibal had struggled to take the selfie. Maybe he wasn’t taking these very often, Will thought.

The concert selfie was a great memory, but Will was looking very nervous, eyes wide open like a wild animal in front of a car’s lights. He still decided to set it as Hannibal’s contact picture.

He then snatched a selfie himself, probably a bad one too, and his phone’s camera was pretty bad. But he sent it anyway.

“I see you have added more tape to your drums.”

“Yes, the fix I did last time broke again. It should be fine now.”

Their chat stopped soon after that, Hannibal encouraging Will to play because he hadn’t had the chance to do it this day, and neither the day before.

He couldn’t wait to be Saturday.

Comfortably sitting in his house with a glass of red wine in hand, Hannibal was impatient as well. That was unusual for him. But he had genuinely appreciated the young drummer when they had met, and he was beyond happy that Will had accepted his invitation.

And even happier to consider it a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoy a lot working on this fic :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to go on a date with Hannibal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta read. Doing my best but english is not my first language.

“How do I look?”

“Great!” Bev answered. 

“Like you’re going to puke.” Brian said.

“Or to faint.” Jimmy added.

“Thank you Bev. No thanks for you two.” Will answered. “I’m so fucking nervous right now.”

“Oh, we couldn’t have guessed.” Jimmy grinned. “But, more seriously, you look good, Will. Don’t worry. You’ve got the shirt he sent you, trousers that are not that bad and your jacket. It’s ok, promise.”

“I should maybe put on a tie.”

“It’s a date, not a job interview.” Bev reminded him.

“Yes, but he wears super fancy three-pieces suits!”

“And so what? The way he dresses doesn’t mean you have to dress super fancily too. Go now,” she smiled. “It’s time. And tell us everything when you’ll be back!” 

It was three minutes before the hour when Will arrived at the place Hannibal had said he would picked him up from. He couldn’t see them, but he was sure that Bev, Brian and Jimmy were observing him from somewhere. Good thing Antony was busy this evening. Will liked him, but he didn’t need more stress right now. 

At 6:30pm precise, Hannibal parked his car close to Will. 

Behind the wheel, Hannibal was smiling at him lightly, almost shy, very different from the almost aggressive grin he often had when he was playing. He was, as expected, wearing a three-pieces suit, with a long and nice coat. 

“Good evening, Will.” He said when Will sat. 

“Good evening, Doctor Lecter.”

“Please, call me Hannibal. It will be a very awkward date if you don’t.”

Will nodded. A few seconds later, his phone buzzed.

“Sorry, I’m going to mute it.”

“There is nothing be sorry about, don’t worry.”

“You said he had a nice car, but that’s a FUCKING GREAT CAR.” Jimmy was saying, with a lot of smileys. 

Will chuckled and muted the phone. 

“My friend likes your car.”

“Your friend has good taste. Did you play today?”

“Yes, a few hours this afternoon.”

“Anything special?”

“Not really. A few from The Ravenstag, a fews from Queen, and Come Together. Classics.”

“Classics are good. Have you ever tried to compose?”

“Not easy when you’re not part of a band.”

“That’s true, indeed. But you still do not wish to find one?”

“No, I’m ok playing alone. Playing in a band would require to be sociable. And also, I’m supposed to focus on school work.”

“But as you hate your cursus, it’s complicated. I understand. You should consider changing.”

“I should. I don’t know. Except music and dogs, nothing really interest me.”

“Well, you’re only twenty-two years old, you have time to decide.”

“Did you know what you wanted to do when you were twenty-two?”

“Yes, and I was already studying to be a psychiatrist. But a lot of people do not know when they are this young. We are arrived. This restaurant has a private parking lot behind, I like that.”

Hannibal parked his car, shut down the engine and, after a few seconds of hesitation, grabbed something from behind his seat. 

“I was planning to give it to you during dinner, but I realized it might make you uncomfortable to open a gift in public.”

He put a little box in Will’s hands, wrapped in a nice dark blue paper. 

“I know, you are going to tell me I should not have. But I wanted to, and this one is also for my... personal benefit. Open it, please.”

Mumbling thank you’s, Will started to unwrap the present with lightly shaky hands.

“The band, including myself, of course, is going to leave on Monday for a three weeks tour.” Hannibal explained. 

Will felt his heart falling. Even if he hadn’t seen Hannibal in real life since the last time, he liked the idea of knowing they were not very far from each other. 

“Not very far,” Hannibal continued, “not for a very long time, but I will not be able to bring packages for you, or to invite you somewhere.”

Will let a little “oh” going passed his lips when he discovered the gift, a brand new smartphone from a high end brand.

“I can’t accept, it’s too much, I...”

“I noticed yours was bad.” Anybody would have noticed. During their texts chats, Will had to apologize several times for the delay in his answers because his phone had shut down suddenly without any reason, or because the battery had dropped too low in a single second. 

“And I do not want to take the risk to not be able to contact you if it stopped working definitely, not in a moment where I will not be in town, close enough to be able to come directly to check if you are ok. I took the liberty to subscribe to an all-included bundle for it, with your actual number. You will just have to activate the new SIM card to deactivate the one you were using until now, and the bundle you had with it.”

“How could I thank you?”

“Well, would you come with me for a date? I heard this restaurant we are parked behind had a reservation for us.”

Will laughed. “It would be a pleasure.”

***

The dinner was exquisite and, as during their first meeting, Will was feeling strangely safe with Hannibal. Special. Important. Cared about. Hannibal was charming and, if he was not talking a lot about himself, seemed to find every tiny bit of Will’s life very interessant. 

“Three weeks will be so long.” Will sighed during dessert. “I know it’s not long for a tour. But it will be long.”

“I am sorry. We will not go very far, just a few cities accross a couple states, but it will still be impossible to come back home between two concerts.”

“It’s ok. It’s just that I was liking to know you weren’t far. I don’t exactly know why.”

“It won’t be long, and I will still send you texts. You will not even notice I am away, and you will be busy with school work. And music, of course.”

“I don’t really care about school work, to be honest.” Will chucked nervously.

“I know. And I can’t blame you for that. Focus on music, you are already very good and any band would want you. Obviously, the cursus you picked is not for you. You should try to get into music professionally. I’m serious.” 

“I won’t earn enough to live with music. Not that I care much about money, just enough to live would be cool. But that’s already very complicated. I’m almost sure you don’t earn a living wage with The Ravenstag.”

“Indeed, I don’t. We all have a job on the side, as you know, I am a psychiatrist.”

“And do you like your job, if I may ask?”

“I love it. Analyzing the human mind is endlessly interesting. Writing and playing music is amazing too, of course. But my first love is for psychiatry.”

“Writing music, you said?” Will asked.

“Yes, I compose and write most of the band’s songs. I love playing, but I prefer composing.”

“Staying in the dark, as the most mysterious member of the band.”

“Yes.” Hannibal smiled. “I do not wish to be known, or to take selfies or this kind of activities.”

They finished their dinner while talking music again, and more precisely about Will’s poor drum kit, compared to Hannibal’s. 

“So when I asked you to play on stage, it was the first time you were playing with accoustic drums?”

“Yes, I can’t use that in the dorms. Jimmy and Brian have promised they would kill me.”

“I suppose they are your friends?”

“Yes, Brian is the one who raised my hand at the concert to force me to get on stage, and Jimmy is the one who texted me to say that your car was great. And they are right, it would make too much noise. I could play in a studio, or in a music school, and get a better equipment but...”

“But it would be more expensive. I understand. It’s still early,” Hannibal said, suddenly inspired. “you could come at my home and play a bit. If you want.”

“I would love that! But I don’t want to be a burden. I don’t want you to feel like you have to invite me because I’m broke or...”

“I am not inviting you by pity. I am inviting you to listen to you. You can even spend the night, if you want. I have guest bedrooms. Not forcing you, just a suggestion. I can drive you back to the uni if you prefer.”

Will hesitated for a second. He didn’t know Hannibal that much, after all, but the man was important to him. And he really wanted to play again with this amazing drum kit. And... a night in a good bed, not like the ones provided by the uni, without the noise of the dorms? That sounded like an amazing idea. 

“If it’s not a problem for you, I would like that.”

“Great. I will drive you back to the uni tomorrow. Remember to warn your friends that you will not be back tonight, before they get worried. I am almost sure it is the kind of things you easily forgot.”

“That’s true. And err... we should go back to the uni on our way to your home, so I can pick clothes and stuff for tomorrow.”

“No need.” Hannibal assured.

“But...”

“I have clothes you can borrow.”

“I can’t wear yours, I would look ridiculous. You’re taller than me and your shoulders are broader.”

“I have clothes at your size. To summarize... I was hoping you would come, one day or another. I like to be ready for anything. So I bought clothes for you.”

“I don’t know what to answer.”

“Finish your dessert. No need to talk when eating.”

As it was an amazing dessert with a lot of raspberries, Will didn’t protest. He did tried to protest when Hannibal paid, saying he could at least chip in a few dollars, but Hannibal paid without stopping at Will’s protests. 

“You always buy me great gifts. You shouldn’t have to pay for the restaurant too.”

“I do not have to pay for the restaurant. I want to pay for that. It’s very different. You should call your friends before we leave. I’ll wait for you in the car.”

Will hesitated for a second before deciding to call Bev. She would be a better help than Jimmy or Brian, and would ask less questions than Antony. He picked the new phone Hannibal had given him, activated it and copied Bev’s number from his old phone. 

“Bev? It’s Will. No, no I’m fine. I was just calling to tell you that I won’t be back to the dorms tonight. I’m staying at Hannibal’s. I’ll get to play on his drums!”

“I got worried when I saw your number! Glad to hear that. Is your evening going ok for now? I’m probably too worried but... you really want to go to his home? He is not forcing you or anything?”

“It’s going more than ok. I feel good with him, and he knows a lot of interesting stuff about music. He suggested to go to his home to play, and he suggested that I could stay for the night. But he didn’t force anything.”

“Awesome.” She said, and Will could almost hear her smile. “I’m just too worried for you I guess. Sorry about that. Do you want me to tell Brian and Jimmy that you won’t come back today or do you prefer to call them?”

“Tell them, please. It will be faster. And err... no need to be sorry for being worried for me. I’m not very good with things that require to be social so... better having someone who knows to worry a bit for me, I think.”

“I suppose”. She laughed. “Will you be back tomorrow or Monday morning, directly before class?”

“Tomorrow. On Monday, he is leaving with the band for a three weeks tour. And I have homework.”

“Maths?”

“I’m afraid, yes.”

“I’m sure all this work will pay one day. See you tomorrow then. Enjoy your evening.”

“Thanks! See you.”

Bev hung up and Will joined Hannibal in the car. 

“Sorry for the delay, I talked a bit too much. My friend Bev was worried for me.”

“Not at all, and even if you had talked too much, it would be totally fine. It is good to know you have good friends who care about you.”

“I don’t have a lot of friends, but Bev is amazing.”

“Is she a musician as well?”

“No, and she is not really interested by music in general. She likes to listen to music, but that’s all.”

“And your other friends? Anybody to talk music with?”

“Sadly, no. Brian and Jimmy love The Ravenstag, and some other bands, but they don’t play. Antony doesn’t play either, and he got interested by your band only when we were dating. Just to please me, I guess. And err... that’s all. I’m very glad to have you now, to be able to talk about music with someone.”

“Only for that?” Hannibal asked with a grin.

“What?” Will panicked. “No! No, of course no. I appreciate you in general, not only for music. I’m...”

“Relax. It was just too tempting to tease you a bit.”

***

After a pleasant ride, they arrived at Hannibal’s. As much as Will had been impressed by his car, it was nothing compared to that house. Outside and inside, everything was big and beautiful. And also stern and austere, which was matching Hannibal’s style perfectly. Stopping Will in his admirative comments, Hannibal led him to his music room. It was entirely soundproofed, even if he didn’t have close neighbors.   
In this room were several drum kits. First, the one he was using on stage, packed in heavy and sturdy boxes, ready to be moved on Monday. Then, he had a second one, identical to his stage drums.

“For the days when the stage one is packed.” He explained to Will. 

He also had a third accoustic kit, with the elements placed differently, to try new things, he said. And an electronic drums kit, way better than Will’s, and that he had “just in case.”

“I also own a theremin and a harpsichord, in other rooms.”

“Do you also play those?”

“Of course. The harpsichord is probably my favorite instrument to compose on. But I don’t compose for the band with it.”

“Who do you compose for with it, then, if it’s not for the band?” Will asked.

“For myself only. Sit now, please. I’d like to hear you play.”

For three hours, Hannibal asked Will to play different songs, some from The Ravenstag and some from other bands. Easy songs, complicated songs, fast ones, slower others... Will gladly accepted all his demands, even if he made a few mistakes from time to time.   
The whole time, Hannibal observed, making mental notes about the way Will was playing, about the songs and rhythms he was obviously preferring, and about the parts that were causing him some difficulties. 

“It is amazing you managed to reach such a good level with your very limited drums. I’m impressed. We have talked about that, and I know it would be complicated, but I really do encourage you to continue to play, and to try to become professional.”

“You are too nice.”

“No. Nice is a word nobody use for me. I’m sincere.”

“I’ll use it then.” Will smiled.

“I wish you could come here more often, maybe every weekend, after the tour, to train.”

“Would you be my professor?”

“I could. I know you learnt alone, and you learnt very well alone, but I am way more experimented than you are. There are some things I wish I could show you. But I have to warn you: it will be rigorous and challenging. We do that seriously and I try to get you to be good enough to be a pro, or we don’t do it at all. You could of course still come to play here. You don’t have to answer now, if you want to take time to think about it.”

“If I say yes now, and change my mind in a few weeks, would it still ok?”

“It would be irritating but yes. I would not reject you for that.”

“I don’t want you to lose your time on me.” Will admitted. 

“It wouldn’t be lost time if it helps you becoming who you are.”

“I’m going to say yes. Yes, please, teach me everything you know about drums and music. I want to learn, I want to know. I don’t know if I’ll ever try to be a professional but... I want to get better.”

“Very good. I am glad.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be a pro, or even if I want to be.” Will repeated. “But... the studies I’m doing... I’m aware I won’t go anywhere like this. And music has a big place in my life. And... and yes, I want to try.”

Hannibal smiled kindly. Of course, Will was still unsure, and probably scared. But he was already very good, and he would push him until he reached his best.

“Remember you can change your mind. Feel free to tell me about any insecurities you could have around that. We will not start now of course, nor tomorrow.”

“Why?” Will asked, disappointed. He was covered with sweat after these three hours of intense playing, but he was ready to continue for three other hours.

“Because it is already two in the morning.”

“It’s Saturday, it’s fine.”

“You have school work to do tomorrow, and a maths exam in two weeks, you need to be ready. And class on Monday at eight o’clock, of course. It would not be reasonnable. I am going to show you your room.”

Will had to admit that Hannibal was right, and way more responsible than he was. He let the sticks near the drums and grabbed his bag and jacket before following Hannibal in the house.   
The guest bedroom he showed Will was bigger than any appartment or room Will had ever lived in. Hannibal got out of the room for a moment before bringing him back clothes for the night. 

“There is a bathroom just there, if you want to take a shower before sleeping.”

“After playing for three hours, I definitely need one.” Will chuckled. “Thank you so much for everything, I...”

“No need to thank me. Good night, Will.”

“Good night, Hannibal.” The name was weird on his tongue, heavy but pleasing, unusual and usual at the same time.

***

After a quick shower in a way-too-amazing bathroom, Will went back in the bedroom. Hannibal had displayed some clothes on the bed, and Will chose a teeshirt and boxer briefs. The silk pajamas looked great but... too far from what he was used to. He carefully put the clothes he hadn’t picked on a chair in the corner of the room and climbed in bed. 

Laying in bed in the dark, Will realized that... he could get used to that. Come at Hannibal’s, play for a few hours, stay here in this comfy bed. Hannibal’s bed was probably even more comfy.   
He never had considered seriously to become a professional musician. Any job related to art was impossible to reach, or almost. But Hannibal’s confidence in his skills was reassuring. Refreshing, even. It was probably stupid, but it was giving him hope. Maybe he wouldn’t stay stuck in a field he hated for his whole life. 

Will hesitated for a second to text Bev to ask her what was her opinion about this. But as Hannibal had said, it was already very late, and Will dropped the idea. There would be time to talk with her about that later. 

***

In his room, Hannibal could hear every sound Will was doing. He was used to live alone, and he was knowing perfectly the usual sounds of his house. So he couldn’t miss the sounds that Will’s presence, unusual, was producing. He heard the shower, the ruffle of clothes, light footsteps. Then the noise of the covers, and then it stopped, and Hannibal concluded that Will was in bed. 

He had been sincere, earlier, when he had said to Will that he could become professional. And also when he had suggested to be his professor. Will was already a good player, but he was stuck in this science cursus, glued in his fears about his future. Free of these weights, he would be able to become an amazing player, to develop his own style and skills. 

But for that, he needed to trust Hannibal and to accept his help. Will didn’t seem to be the kind of person to easily trust anybody. It would take time, and Hannibal was totally ready to take this time to let Will learn to trust him, and then to take the time needed to help him. And to take the time required to become close to him.   
Aside his professional interest for Will’s music skills, Hannibal couldn’t deny that he was interested by Will personally. He was good at guessing what people thought or were, and that was a great help in his psychiatrist job. But he wasn’t that good when it came to his own feelings, even if he would never admit it. Even alone in his room during the night, he was barely admitting that to himself. Maybe he could talk about Will to Alana, or Reba, to get ideas about how to handle the situation. Not asking for help or advice, that was not something he was doing. But maybe just their opinion would... 

As he was starting to doze off, an unusual noise woke him up completely. It was obviously coming from Will, as there was nobody else there. His first thought was that Will was maybe having a little alone moment, which would have been quite rude in someone’s else house. But the noise wasn’t matching this theory. 

Hannibal got up and silently walked to the guest room. The door was slightly open, as if Will had badly closed it last night. A quick glance confirmed that Will was indeed not masturbating, and Hannibal opened the door a bit more to check.   
Will seemed asleep, but he was moving and shaking, low pained whines escaping from his mouth. Nightmare, Hannibal understood.

“Will?” He tried. “Do you hear me?”

No answer. Hannibal got in the room, next the bed, and put his hand on Will’s shoulder to shake him lightly. 

“Wake up. You are having a nightmare.”

Will woke up with a jolt and a breathless scream, his nails clawing Hannibal’s arm.

“It’s ok.” Hannibal whispered. “You are safe here.”

Here? Where? 

Will looked around him. Disoriented and panting, it took him a few seconds to realize what was going on. He was in a bed, at Hannibal’s home. He was in his home because after dinner, Hannibal had suggested to let him play here. So he had played. And showered, and went to bed, and fell asleep. And obviously had a bad nightmare.   
Will then realized that he was still clawing at Hannibal’s arm, his nails drawing blood in a few places. 

“Oh no.” He mumbled for himself. He had ruined everything. “Oh I’m sorry. So sorry. I...” Will released Hannibal’s arm. “I didn’t want to... I’m...”

“It’s ok.” Hannibal repeated. “Nothing bad happened. You had a nightmare, and I heard you moving. I thought you had a problem, so I came here to check, and decided to wake you up. That’s all. Nothing bad.”

“But... your arm... and I woke you up.”

“I was not totally sleeping yet. And don’t worry for my arm, these are just light scratches. Are you ok? Do you often have nightmares like this?”

“Yes, and it’s been since forever I think. I have been told I had too much imagination and empathy, and that it was why I was having so much nightmares. I’m sorry you had to witness that, I...”

“You have no power on your nightmares, you did not chose to have one.”

Will nodded, trying to compose himself, and sat on the edge of the bed. 

“I am going to wash the droplets of blood away, and I am coming back.” Hannibal promised before leaving the room for a minute. 

When he came back, Will was standing up near his bag where he was picking a school book. 

“It is not the right time to work. You should go back to bed.”

“I can’t. If I go back to bed, if I fall asleep again, I’m going to have more nightmares. And I don’t want that.”

Hannibal took the book from Will’s hands and dropped it on the chair. 

“You need sleep.”

“I can’t, I...”

“You are afraid.”

Will nodded, unable to answer. Of course he was afraid of all the demons he would meet again and again in his nightmares, alone in the dark and his mind.   
Hannibal pushed him lightly towards the bed. 

“Get in bed, please.” 

Will sighed and climbed back in bed. He could get in if it was pleasing Hannibal, after all. He would have to fight to stay awake, and it would be hard. He was exhausted, and still half asleep.   
Hannibal switched off the light, and Will heard his footsteps leaving the room. 

Will felt his heart dropping in his chest. While Hannibal was by his side, he felt safe, even just after his nightmare. But he was leaving. Of course he was leaving. He needed sleep too. But...

“Please.” Will mumbled, so low he was convinced Hannibal wouldn’t hear him.

“Do you want me to stay?” Hannibal asked with a soft voice, having immediately understood.

“Please. I... err... If I sleep, the nightmares will come back. I’m... I’m just scared. Sorry, I shouldn’t have...”

A few seconds later, Will felt the mattress dipping on the side. 

“I’m here,” Hannibal whispered. “You are safe, I’m here for you if you want me to stay.”

Will nodded, even if they were in the dark, feeling relieved and stupid at the same time. 

“We all have demons from our past.” Hannibal murmured. “They can haunt us forever, and they are always stronger at night. Do not feel guilty for wanting me to stay, do not feel silly for being scared. It is perfectly fine, and human.”

He extended his arm on the side, and smiled in the dark when Will curled up next to him. He pressed a light kiss on the top of Will’s head. 

“Sleep now, dear Will. I’m here.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is back from a wonderful weekend at Hannibal’s, and is more or less ready to face the three weeks without seeing him, and the awful maths exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay since the last update...
> 
> Not beta read  
> Doing my best but English is not my native language

Monday morning and its usual maths course came way too fast. It was as bad as usual, maybe even worse, because all Will could focus on was the memories of the time spent with Hannibal this week-end. He had woken up late in the morning on Sunday, in the warm safety of Hannibal’s arms. Hannibal then had cooked an amazing breakfast before driving Will back to the uni.

The maths teacher angrily wrote something Will didn’t understand. And according to his classmates’ faces, he was not the only one. Knowing that he wouldn’t see Hannibal for three long weeks wasn’t helping.   
He sighed. What was he doing here? He could be playing drums in his room, learning new things, useful and pleasing things! Or he could even be at Hannibal’s, learning music from him. Both solutions sounded a thousand times better than this.   
But there was an important exam in just two weeks, and Will had promised Bev he would do his best, to thank her for all the time she was spending to help him. 

Luckily, the weeks went pretty fast. With all the work dedicated to the maths exam, Will didn’t really get time to think that he was missing Hannibal. Of course, he missed him, and he sent him several messages every single day. But most of the time, he was too busy to think about how much he was actually missing him. 

Despite all his efforts, the maths exam went as bad as usual. It seemed like no matter the amount of work and dedication Will would put into that, it would never be enough for him to get an acceptable grade, let alone validating the year.   
When Hannibal finally got back from the little tour, he invited Will at his home and he politely listened to his rants about the exam, the amount of work put into this, the maths teacher and more or less everything related to his studies. 

“I’m sorry”, Will apologized after a while. “I’m talking and talking without even asking you how was the tour. That was rude of me. I’m just... I don’t know what to do.”

“No need to apoligize” Hannibal smiled. “You are upset about this exam, upset to have put so much work in it to not get close to the expected result. And upset and scared about your studies and your future. It is a normal reaction to to want to talk about these.”

Will smiled softly and nodded. Hearing Hannibal saying that it was normal was reassuring.

“How was the tour?” He asked. 

“The tour was nice. Nothing unusual, we didn’t face any trouble of any kind during the concerts themselves or when we met fans.”

“Glad to hear that. Did you... sign autographs? Took selfies with the fans?”

“Like I did when we met?” Hannibal answered, amused and curious.

“Yes”, Will admitted with a shy voice. He didn’t want to sound jealous but had to admit that maybe he was. Just a bit. Maybe.

“No, I didn’t.” Hannibal continued. “That’s not something I usually do, even if it happens from time to time. Alana sometimes convinces me to do it, because fans enjoy that and post the pictures online. It always gives us some visibility, and gives us the image of a nice and friendly band.”

“That’s what happened the day we met?”

“Indeed.”

“So it was just a coincidence if we met” Will laughed. 

“An amazing coincidence.” Hannibal corrected with a laugh. “But I don’t really believe in happenstance, especially for important events like our first meeting. I think some.... things are meant to happen.”

“Maybe. And maybe I’m meant to follow these studies and fail all the maths exams.”

“Or maybe not. Maybe you are meant to a greater destiny that failing maths exams.”

“Like... pursuing a career into music?”

“Yes. I think you should seriously consider it. These studies you are following are clearly not a good path for you, and you already are a good drummer. With work and regular and serious training, you could become a professional. I mean it. Consider this idea, please, without staying stuck on the fact that your father and teachers told you that it was not possible.”

The next day, when Hannibal brought back Will to the university, he asked him again to think about it, and Will promised he would. 

***

Three weeks and three gifts from Hannibal later, an unexpected announcement made Will regret his choice of studies a little bit more. 

“... and that’s why the university, including the dormitories and the library will stay close during the next two weeks break.” Finished Jimmy who was reading the informative email to everybody. 

“For renovation work, uh?” Brian asked with a yawn. “I hope they will fix the door that squeeks at the library, it’s such an annoying noise.”

“The email doesn’t precise what exactly will be renovated.” Bev answered, reading above Jimmy’s shoulder. “But there are so informations about which libraries we can go to instead, in this cities and others. As it’s a vacation period, I’m going to go to my sister’s’. One of the libraries listed here is in the city she lives in! It’s perfect! I can’t wait to see her. And you, what are you going to do?”

It quickly turned out that everybody, Jimmy, Brian, Anthony and Bev, had a place to go during these two weeks. Friends, family, far or close, they all had a solution to have a place to stay while the uni would be closed. All, but Will, of course. He didn’t have family left, and he didn’t have a lot of friends, and none of them where outside the university. 

“I’m sorry.” Bev said when she realized he hadn’t answered. “I can ask my sister if you can come! She lives in a small flat, and it’s quite far from here, but I’m sure she would help.”

“No, don’t worry, it’s fine.” Will forced himself to smile. “I’ll find a solution.”

He had said that with assurance in his voice, but, in fact, he had zero solution in mind. He couldn’t afford the trip to Bev’s sister, let alone an hotel, even a very bad one, for two weeks. And the library would be closed as well! It meant no work, and no pay, for him.

“You should ask Hannibal.” Brian suggested. “He has a big house, from what you told us. I’m sure there would be enough place.”

“And he likes you and showers you with gifts.” Jimmy added. “Brian is right. Tell him about the renovation, the closed uni and everything. He will help you.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Why?”

“I can’t ask a random man if...”

“A random man you have been dating for weeks.” Bev corrected.

“... I can stay at his place for...”

“His super big and fancy place.” Jimmy added.

“... for two weeks, without even being able to pay him back...” Will tried to continue.

“Paying back somebody who give you gifts all the time without expecting anything in return, earns a lot of money and drives a super expensive car.” Brian laughed.

“I can’t do that!” Will finished, exasperated by the interruptions. “I won’t do that, I won’t tell him. It would be... I don’t know, but I don’t want to force him to do that, if that makes sense. I don’t want to bother him with my problems.”

“It makes sense” Bev answered with a reassuring voice. “Don’t worry, we understand. It would have been the perfect solution, but it is understable that it would make you uncomfortable. And this break is not now! You still have a few weeks to find a solution, and we will help you!”

***

Despite Bev’s enthousiasm, and the others’ and her help, two days before the break, Will still had no solution at all. He was playing it easy in front of his friends, but it was really worrying him. He had packed his suitcase, like everybody in the dormitories, and left most of his stuff, including his drums, and the uni’s email had said they were allowed to. But he had no idea of where he was going to go with this suitcase two days later, when the doors would close behind the students leaving for the break. 

Bev, Jimmy, Brian and even Anthony had tried several times to convince Will to ask Hannibal for help, but he was still saying no each time.   
Bev didn’t want to force him, and she hated having to do that, but there was no other solution. She had a free hour during one of Will’s course, and she had taken her decision hours ago. She breathed slowly three times and picked up her phone. 

“Hello, Mr Lecter? Sorry to bother you, we don’t know each other, but I’m Beverly Katz, a friend of Will’s.”

“Hello, Miss Katz.” Hannibal answered. “Will told me about you. Is he in trouble? Is there any problem? And how did you get my personal phone number?”

“I borrowed his phone yesterday evening, while he was playing video games with Brian and not paying attention to his bag. His code is always the same, at least since a few months, I saw him typing it several times. I unlocked his phone and copied your number. Sorry. I wouldn’t have done that if I had another solution.”

“Interesting. May I ask why?”

“Did Will tell you about the uni’s renovation during the two weeks break?”

“Not at all. I know that this break is soon, in two days if I remember well, but that is all.” Hannibal answered, surprised. 

“The university will be closed during these two weeks, for big renovations. Everything will be closed, even the dormitories and the library. Most students are going back to their families, or going to stay with friends from outside the uni. But Will...”

“doesn’t have that.” Hannibal concluded.

“Indeed. He doesn’t have a solution, he doesn’t know where to go. I offered him to stay at my sister’s, but he doesn’t know her, and I think he can’t afford the train trip. Jimmy, another friend, offered him to ask his parents about that, but Will said no. He is a bit... stubborn, for these things. And he doesn’t want to ask for help. Not even yours. We suggested him several times to tell you about this break, but he keeps saying that he doesn’t want to bother you.”

“He never bothers me.”

“That’s what I told him!” She smiled, happy about his reaction. “But no, he wants to manage everything himself without asking for help. But the break starts this evening, and he still has no solution. No work, as the library will be closed too, and nowhere to stay. I don’t know how to help him, but he is my friend. I don’t want to let him in this. So I took his phone and copied your number. Maybe he will be very angry that I called you but... I can’t let him like that.”

“You took the right decision.” Hannibal assured. “He never bothers me, and I have way enough place at my home to welcome him for two weeks. At what time will his last course of the day end?”

“At six, this evening, like me. We have planned to go back to the dorms to pick our suitcases and stuff, and to leave just after. They are going to close the doors early, and I can’t miss my train to go to my sister’s, so we’ll leave immediately.”

“Very well. Don’t worry anymore for him about this. Thank you for your call.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m very sorry for the time since the last update... I spent most of my writing time working on a novel (it is now finished, fully written. I’m doing a third round of editions and it will be ready to be sent to publishers, and I’ll start to write another one), and I haven’t really been ok enough to write/draw/play a lot, and I still am not. But I’m going to try to finish this story soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will doesn’t have to worry for this two-weeks break, Hannibal is here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta read. English is still not my first language.

At six in the evening, the same day, Bev and Will went back to the dorms, as they had planned. She hadn’t told him that she had called Hannibal earlier, and he hadn’t said anything about that either. He was still randomly mumbling about these two weeks, and it was worrying her: maybe Hannibal hadn’t called Will and wouldn’t do anything to help him. Will would have told her if Hannibal had called, he was always talking about him. 

They picked up their suitcases and bags, each in their own room, and met in the empty corridor. Most of the students had already left, like Jimmy and Brian. Will was forcing himself to smile, but Bev could see he was lost and worried. 

“I’m glad to see my sister soon.” She said to stop the embarrassing silence. “It’s been a while since the last time I saw her.”

“That’s great! I’m happy for you.” He answered genuinely. “Your train is soon, right? You should hurry up.”

“In less than an hour, yes. But the station is not that far, it won’t take me a lot of time by the bus.”

“You could stay stuck in a traffic jam! So you should take the first bus you can.”

“Yes, of course. But, about this break... what are you going to do? Have you found a solution during the day or...?”

“No time to talk, you are going to miss the bus, and the train.” Will answered, stubborn and refusing to discuss the subject. 

They walked through the corridors, heading to the exit, still talking about the bus and the time it would be there. 

“Listen Will,” She finally dared to say as they were getting out of the dormitories building. “I wanted to tell you that I called...”

She stopped as soon as she saw the car. In the middle of the second-hand cars, in the mostly empty parking lot of the university, it was impossible to miss the big Bentley carefully parked near the entrance. And impossible to imagine that this car could be owned by somebody else than Hannibal. 

Hannibal got out of the car, as elegant as usual, when he saw them getting out of the building. Bev excitedly rushed in his direction, slowly followed by Will, surprised. Hannibal shook her hand and quickly hugged Will, letting him go after only a couple of seconds to not make him uncomfortable by a too long public display of affection. 

“What are you doing here?” Will asked. 

“Miss Katz called me this morning to tell me about your current situation.”

“Sorry, Will.” Bev said. “I didn’t want to do that in secret but I was so worried for you... I found his number into your phone.”

“How did you guess my code? I didn’t know you had it...”

“Don’t worry, I won’t use it anymore, you can keep it. And it was easy to find it. I saw you typing it several times and... errr... let’s say it is a meaningful code.”

“A meaningful code?” Hannibal asked, slightly amused and very curious. 

“It’s a date.” Will answered, embarassement making him blush. “It’s your birthdate.” He finally said to Hannibal.

“I’m flattered.”

“Easy to guess!” Bev laughed again. “So I found the number in your phone, and called, even if I knew you wanted to handle that alone and I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.”

“It was the right decision to take.” Hannibal assured. “She told me about the renovation work, and that the university, library and dormitories would be close for the full duration of the break. And so, that you were left without any place to stay, and any job to earn money during this time. So, of course, I came here at the end of your courses. I think I can understand why you did not call me when you all received the email containing all these informations.”

“I don’t like to ask for help.” Will mumbled.

“But sometimes, it is necessary to do it. You should have told me. It was evident that I would come immediately to help you.”

“But I can’t even repay you!”

“For what?” Hannibal laughed nicely. “The time you will spend in one of my otherwise non-occupied spare bedrooms? The electricity and water you will use during these two weeks? The food you will eat? Come on Will, you know I would never ask you for that. You are always welcome in my house.”

“See?” Bev smiled happily. “I knew he would help you! Thanks for having answered my call this morning, Mr. Lecter, I’m glad Will will have a place to stay. I see my bus at the end of the street, I need to go.”

“Are you going to the central station?” Hannibal asked politely.

“Yes, and my train is in less than an hour. As I told you over the phone, I’m going to my sister’s for these two weeks.”

“There is no need for you to take this crowded bus when there is a way easier solution.” Hannibal said, gesturing to his Bentley. 

Beverly protested slightly that she had no problem with taking the bus, but Hannibal was already putting her suitcase and her bag in the car boot, alongside Will’s. And a few minutes later, way faster than the bus could have done, they were parked near the station and Bev was thanking Hannibal at least a hundred times. 

“There is no need to thank me. Have a nice trip, and enjoy your time with your dear sister.” He smiled. 

“Thanks! It will be amazing for sure. See you soon, Will! Enjoy your stay, play music and forget the maths for two weeks.” She joked, knowing perfectly that he had homework to do. 

“See you!” He answered, not angry at all. “Text me when you’ll get there, ok?”

“Sure!”

With a last wave of the hand, she disappeared into the station. 

“Miss Katz really seems to be an excellent friend.”

“She is the best.” Will sighed. “I’m glad she gets to see her sister, it has been a too long time since her last visit. And I’m glad she called you, even if at first I was a bit angry. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“As I told her, you never bother me.” Hannibal assured. “Shall we go? I had not planned to have a guest and even if my pantry is always well stocked, we need to do a quick grocery shopping trip.”

“I’m sorry to disturb your plans.”

“You’re not disturbing anything,” Hannibal corrected “and it will be quick. Sadly, the traditionnal market is closed at this time of the day, but the supermarket should have the few things I require.”

Once parked near a big supermarket, Will followed Hannibal inside. He indeed didn’t need a lot of things, but Will noticed with amusement that he was very picky and was spending a lot of time to chose each item, always reading every detail on the tag.

As they were passing by the video games aisle, Will informed Hannibal that he wanted to check something and, without checking if the older drummer was following him or was going to pick something else, rushed into the section. It was an habit he had since a lot of time. Even if he was regularly playing video games with Brian and Jimmy, he didn’t own any gaming system himself, as they were sadly very expensive. But he deeply enjoyed to find one on demonstration mode in a store or a supermarket and was never missing an occasion to play on these. Sometimes, there wasn’t any console out for demonstration, but this day, he was lucky: a portable console with a colorful racing game was there, waiting for him. He had already played this game several times, it was one of Brian’s favorites. But that wasn’t diminishing his pleasure to play it again in the middle of the supermarket.   
Not wanting to make Hannibal wait for too long, Will picked a map he knew was short in the little list of demo maps and started to play. 

“What are the bananas for?”

Will startled lightly and lost his third place in the race. He hadn’t heard Hannibal getting behind him. 

“You use them to slow down the other players.” He explained. “I know it’s not very logical, it even doesn’t make any sense but... I like this game.”

“It does seem very illogical indeed. Isn’t that a dinosaur on this kart? But as long as you like it, the logical aspect is not very important.”

“It’s a very fun game, we play it often. Brian has this console and the game as well. I’m almost done, it’s the last lap of the race. Sorry for making you wait, I thought you would go somewhere else in the supermarket while I was doing that.”

“I can wait, don’t worry. I have found everything I needed. Are all your friends into video games?”

“More or less, yes. Beverly doesn’t like that game, but she is super strong for shooting games. Brian, Jimmy, Antony, her and me play every weekend at the dorms, and sometimes during the week as well, depending of the amount of homework we have. They all own consoles and share them, and me... well, I don’t own any, but they still let me play as much as I want.”

“Your friends are nice. I suppose you don’t own one because they are expensive?”

“Yeah, and some of them require a TV to play, and I don’t have one. This one I’m playing with doesn’t need a TV, but it’s still expensive.”

A few seconds later, Will was finishing his race. Fourth place. He hadn’t managed to get back the place he had lost when Hannibal had surprised him. If he had been alone, he would have retried immediately, but he didn’t want to make Hannibal wait any longer. The man was currently reading the box of a music game with an amused grin. 

“I’m done with the race, we can go.” Will smiled. “Sorry to...”

“Don’t apologize, I am very fine with waiting for you for a few minutes. You were way more relaxed when you were playing, almost as much as when you play the drums. It is a very interesting view. What is the name of this game?”

Will showed him the box in the middle of the others. 

“It’s very known, you maybe saw ads for it on TV.”

“I never watch TV.” Hannibal answered. “And I guess that this is the console going with it?” He asked, pointing a big cardboard box on the side. 

Will nodded, surprised that Hannibal was showing interest for video games. He had never thought he could consider that as something else than useless, Will told him with a laugh. 

“I know nothing about these games, but as you are deeply passionate about them, I am all ready to know a bit more. Even if I don’t at all want to play these games myself.” He added as Will was showing him the demo console to suggest him to try. “No, really, thank you.”

Hannibal picked the console, the game Will had pointed and two other games he had seen him looking at, when Will wasn’t aware that he was looking, and put them in Will’s arms. 

“But, Hannibal...”

“My money, my decision.”

“But it’s super expensive!”

“Everything is super expensive to a broke student. Way less to a known drummer and psychiatrist. And, as I already explained you, I like to give you gifts, and I don’t want anything in return. I’ll be glad to know you have your own, and it is enough for me. Just promise me one thing?”

“Anything you want!”

“It is a relaxing hobby, and it is a good thing to have this kind of hobbies. I am happy to get it for you, but it must never ever come before music. Your work on the drums must always come first, before the games.”

“Easy to promise that, it has always been like that.” Will assured. “I promise you that I will never put games before drums.”

“Great.” Hannibal smiled. “Let’s go now, before we have to queue behind a lot of people at the checkout.”

***

Later in the evening, while Hannibal was cooking dinner, Will decided to show immediately that he would respect his promise. It wouldn’t be hard to respect it. He loved games, for sure, but it wasn’t close of his love for drums.   
Hannibal had told him he had a free hour before dinner, and Will had immediately asked if he could use one of the many drum kits he owned. Hannibal had of course agreed and, after having put his suitcase, bag and brand new console, Will had made his way to the music room. He quickly checked his phone and answered a text from Bev, bored in the train and who was taking silly selfies. He then put it away and got ready to play.   
Will smiled as he sat down behind the accoustic drums kit Hannibal had suggested him to use. He hadn’t played today, and not the day before either, drowned into a last minute essay he had needed to finish. 

What could he play? He had way too many ideas and played a minute with the sticks while deciding. An ABBA* song would do the job to start, he knew very well a few of them. He had meant to learn a song from Genesis**, but those were complicated, and it was not a good idea to start with that after two days without playing. 

That’s when he started to play that he realized that Hannibal had made him promised that video games would never get in the way of music and that his work on the drums would always come first, but that he hadn’t said a word about his studies. 

After dinner, Hannibal joined him in the music room and asked about what he had played earlier. 

“Nothing special, nothing new.” Will concluded after quickly listing the songs. “I had been planning to learn a song or two from Genesis, but I haven’t had time lately. The Colony of Slippermen*** would be cool.”

“Not an easy one, but nice choice.” Hannibal approved. “I have drum sheets from this band, if you really wish to learn it.”

“I’d love to! It’s a great band, and Phil Collins is an amazing drummer. I’m not sure I have the level to learn this song, but I could try. Even if I don’t master it, I could learn something.”

“That’s the right way to think. I’ll get you the sheets tomorrow, it’s already late. Would you like to hear something I’m working on for The Ravenstag? It will be a song of the next album.”

“Of course, I would love that! I love you...r band, you know that.”

If Hannibal had noticed Will’s tiny slip, he didn’t show it. 

Watching Hannibal play was an unique experience. Especially this evening, alone in his house and not in front of an audience. He was looking less threatening, Will thought, way less “The one who never talks with the fans”. Of course he was wearing a pristine shirt as usual and he was looking as serious, but he seemed to enjoy playing way more than when he was on stage. 

“I’m not totally satisfied with it yet” Hannibal said after finishing. “I also wrote the keys and the lyrics, but I still have work to do for the drumming part. It is lacking of something.”

“I think it is already very good. Especially the second part of the intro, I loved it.”

“Very good is not enough. I want it to be perfect. But I have plenty of time to find a solution. I won’t see the other members of the band before next weekend, and the album where this song will be is expected only next year.”

“So you’re going to meet with the band when I’ll be at your home?” Will asked, not sure to realize what Hannibal had just said.

“Indeed. They all will come here. My house is by far the best place to gather everybody, especially for rehearsals. I have a lot of place, and the room is perfectly sound-proof. They will arrive in the afternoon and will probably leave in the evening, more or less late depending of the person.”

“But I’m...”

“I can easily guess what you were going to say and no, you won’t be a burden and your presence won’t be a problem. I already informed them you would be here, but just because it is polite to tell them. And it’s not a problem for any of them.”

“I don’t want to cause any trouble in the band...”

“You are not, I promise. And some of them are actually happy to meet you.”

“Oh really?” Will chuckled, surprised.

“Yes, really. I am a quite solitary person, and I never date anybody. So they are curious.”

“Well, I hope they won’t be disappointed then.”

“No, they won’t.” Hannibal assured, as if he was holding power over the full band. Which was probably true, according to the fact that he was creating all their songs and funding a large part of their needs. “If I may ask... what exactly have you planned for these two weeks?”

“I have some homework, as usual.” Will answered with a sigh. “And I’d love to play with your drum kits, if that’s okay for you. To learn some new songs maybe. I still have so much to learn! And as you know, mine is not very... well... it’s not as nice as yours.”

“Polite way to say that your drum kit is almost totally ruined and was not great either when it was still brand new. You can play as much as you want in my music room, at any time of the day, except during the meals. I give them a great importance, and I expect you to do the same.”

“You’re such a great cook that it will be easy to do the same!” 

“Very good. You also seem to not get enough sleep, so I would like you to not take on your sleeping time to play.”

“Sure! I’ll play during the day. I can’t wait! Do you have other drum sheets than the Genesis ones we talked about earlier? Could you teach me to play them?” Will asked with so much enthusiasm that it made Hannibal smile. 

“Of course I have many other drum sheets, and of course I could teach you. I’m happy you are reacting this way. I am very serious when I say that you should consider a professional musician career, and I am glad that you are ready to work on that.”

“I still don’t know if I want to do that... I’m scared to take a wrong decision.”

“Understandable. Maybe these two weeks of intense training will help you having a clearer view about your future.”

“Maybe. I hope so. I’m very unsure about all of. that. As you know, I never liked my studies. And I don’t really project myself into next year, another year of studying that. And after? I have even less clues about after.”

Talking about his future and studies had washed away all of Will’s enthusiasm. He slowly sat down on a stool near the drum kits where Hannibal was still installed, patiently waiting for him to continue to talk.

“I started these studies, and I worked a lot to pass year after year. But I have zero interest in them.” Will continued. “I will probably sound like a selfish kid, but I don’t want to spend my life in an area I would hate. And no matter how much work and dedication I put into school work, for maths, my results are still not good enough. I feel like I’m doing all of that for nothing, that it is just not a way meant for me. But, at the same time, I don’t dare dropping out. Dropping out, yes, but what could I do after? Find a job? Never easy. Start other studies? I can’t afford that, and I’m not even sure I would like that. Music would be amazing. But living from it is nearly impossible. Teachers, my dad... they have always said it.”

“They are not necessarily right.”

“Yeah, maybe. I’m not sure of anything. Maybe these two weeks will help, yes.”

“Meeting the other members of the band could help you too. None of us has had the same path, the same career. But we are still together in that. Their stories could inspire you.”

“Ah that’s true, it might help. May I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Earlier, at the supermarket, when you got me the Switch... you told me that music would always have to come first, before games. That I should always put my work with the drums first. And I agree. But you didn’t tell anything about my studies coming before playing. You only talked about music. Was it deliberated or...?”

“Yes, I was fully aware that I was not talking about your studies at all, and that, as the oldest and theorically most reasonnable one, I should have. But I won’t. I am sure you could have a great future into music, and your studies are just an obstacle on your path. Put music first. Put hobbies like video games second. Forget these useless studies that do you no good. Your becoming is into music. You are of course the one taking the decision in this. But that is my opinion, and I am pretty sure that I am right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * ABBA: Swedish band, born in the 70s. Their music is still well known and very popular. 
> 
> ** Genesis is a progressive rock band born in the 70s. Phil Collins was their drummer before pursuing a solo career. 
> 
> ***« Colony of the Slippermen » (from the era with Phil Collins) is one their most famous songs and, according to drumming websites, one of their most complicated songs. 
> 
> It’s probably obvious, but I’m NOT a drummer, not a musician. I’m just interested about music, but I never got the chance to learn. So I apologize if I sometimes write not very logical things, or if I don’t give a lot of details about songs or music or whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> Learning to play drums has been one of my dreams since a lot of time, but I never had the chance to learn. I made research for this fic, and I apologize to any drummer reading this if there are mistakes when I talk about music. 
> 
> The plot is entirely decided already, but not fully written. I don’t know yet how many chapters there will be.
> 
> I made this illustration specifically for this fic. Please, do not repost without permission. You can find my drawings and paintings, including this one (not yet posted but soon), on Twitter (@Crafting_Gaby) and IG (@crafting_archangel).


End file.
